NIGHT OF THE ROUNDTABLE

Our last stop, the ICSC New York Next Generation event at Westin New York, showed us the future of retail networking. National Realty & Development's David Spector, Excess Space Retail Services'Justin Glenn, Pryor Cashman's Andrea Gendel, and Sperry Van Ness' Neil Golub took part in the newformat—instead of the usual panel discussions, members sat in on 11 concurrentroundtable sessions and switched tables every 15 minutes. Sounds like speed dating, but with more references to "underwriting in today's market." (Or else you've had some rough dates.)

Topics included changes in the retail landscape, defining opportunity, and planning and budgeting. Here, Great American Brokerage's Paul Fetscher talks about restaurant trends. Some tasty morsels: getting a seat at white-tablecloth restaurants will be easier as consumers trade down their dining experiences; fast, casual dining like Panera Bread is a permanent trend; and, supermarkets with prepared food rule the market.